Modern Mining September 2017

TIN

World’s best tin deposit on track for production in 2019

the world but the richest by far. Speaking at a recent media round table in Johannesburg, Alphamin’s CEO, Boris Kamstra, said that in the world of tin an orebody grading at 1 % Sn would be considered stellar. “We have an ore- body that has a grade of about 4,5 %,” he said. “So we’re not 10 % better or 20 % better or 50 % better than the next stellar orebody but four-and-half-times better. Clearly, this gives us a tremendous advantage.” Kamstra added that having tin in the ground did not necessarily make for a profitable mining operation. “One also needs top class people to build and run the operation and Alphamin is privileged to have assembled an extraordinary team. North Kivu is a challenging environ- ment and there are certainly things we have to deal with that other mining companies don’t have to consider. But our people are up to the challenges. It is my firm belief that when this project is completed, everyone who worked on it will never have to write a lengthy CV again.

The US$135 million Bisie tin project in the DRC has now entered the construction phase, with the boxcut providing access to the proposed underground mine complete and work now starting on the decline to the orebody. The new mine, as Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell reports here, will exploit the richest – in terms of grade – tin orebody in the world and will produce an average of 9 900 tonnes of conflict-free tin annually once in steady-state operation, which is expected to be achieved in late 2019. The project is being developed by Alphamin Resources Corp, a company listed on the TSX-V.

L ocated in North Kivu Province, 180 km west-northwest of the pro- vincial capital, Goma, on Lake Kivu and roughly 40 km from Walikale, the nearest settlement of any size, Bisie is not just the richest tin (Sn) deposit in

Boxcut construction at Bisie at an advanced stage.

20  MODERN MINING  September 2017